Bitter Night

by Diana Pharaoh Francis

  “I know well enough that Marcus is not like me.”

  Max grinned. It wasn’t a compliment. Her gaze ran irresistably over Alexander again. Shit. She really had to get laid. The trouble was, she didn’t like messing around in her own backyard. She liked to get far enough away from Horngate that her one-night stands didn’t come back to haunt her. But since Giselle liked to keep her on a short leash, Max tended to have long dry spells.

  “You should be careful of Marcus. He is reckless. He will get you killed. As for Selange ...who she sleeps with is her business. Does not seem to leave a lot of room for you, though. Are you going to sit by the bed like a hungry dog and beg for scraps?”

  Alexander’s tone had not changed. He still sounded absent. He crouched and touched something on the ground, then lifted his fingers to taste. Brynna was spitting nails. But before she could say anything else, he stood up again. He sauntered over to her, his attention honing in so that he seemed to see nothing else. Max watched in delight as Brynna realized the shit was about to hit the fan. The flame-haired moron stepped back, the gun in her hand twitching like she desperately wanted to shove it in his gut. Alexander slid a gentle hand around the back of her neck, his thumb pressing against her throat as he leaned close. She shrank in on herself, her mouth twisting with fear.

  “You should watch your mouth. I am losing patience with you. Straighten up or I will kill you,” he said softly.

  “Selange would have your balls in a jar,” Brynna choked. She was shivering, the smell of her fear sharp.

  Alexander smiled dangerously. His unruffled calm had turned menacing and angry’a volcano burned inside him. Max wondered if he ever lost control entirely. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But that would do little to help you, would it?”

  His thumb gouged deep into her neck, and Brynna wheezed as he picked her up off the ground with one hand. Her feet twitched and then stilled. Fighting back would surely make her punishment worse, if not fatal. Max watched the lesson with approval. The word of a Prime was law, to be obeyed instantly. Disobedient Shadowblades got people killed. It couldn’t be tolerated.

  “I am done with your bitching and backstabbing. The next time I have to talk to you about it, I will not be talking, do you understand?”

  Brynna gave a minuscule nod of her head, all she could manage. Alexander let go. She dropped to the ground and staggered, gasping. He looked at her a moment, as if waiting for her to start mouthing off, but apparently she wasn’t as stupid as Max thought because she didn’t say a word. Alexander nodded, his expression smoothing into the sort of surface calm that hides shark-infested waters beneath it.

  “Stay here and watch the Hag. Careful of the redcaps. The five we shot will start waking before long.” With that, he walked away around the side of the house.

  Max smiled as Brynna’s face silently contorted. Would the woman throw herself on the ground and have a really good tantrum? But disappointingly, she managed to suck it up and keep her mouth shut. The redhead sent a venomous glare after Alexander, then skirted around the spell circle to look over the redcaps. None were moving yet, but they would. Bullets were a human solution. They slowed down most magical critters, but they didn’t usually kill them.

  Brynna kicked one with a booted foot, then turned and wandered over to look at the Hag. Max shook her head. She really was a moron. Redcaps were vicious and smart. As soon as they woke, they’d be on her. She should’ve taken up a stance with her back to the house where she could watch the redcaps, the Hag, and the yard at the same time without fearing someone creeping up behind her. Like Max was about to do.

  She didn’t let herself think about why she wasn’t safely retreating and getting the hell out of Julian. Instead she leaped across the few yards separating her from Brynna and clubbed the other woman in the head with the shotgun. Brynna crumpled bonelessly to the ground. Max grappled her collar and dragged her into the pool enclosure. It took her ten seconds to strip away the other woman’s guns and drop them in the water before hurrying back to the charm circle.

  The Hag breathed in short, sharp gasps that jerked her body. She was covered in the powder the redcap had thrown over her, and her skin looked like someone had drenched her in acid. The black tears on her blue skin made her look demonic.

  “Mother of winter, can you hear me?” Max whispered, keeping one eye on the redcaps while she glanced around for the return of Alexander and his Blades.

  The Hag made no response. She was close to death. Max grimaced, then stood, walking around to see what Alexander had found so interesting on the ground. She stopped first by the three redcaps who’d been dead before she arrived. They were stiff and desiccated. Their lips were pulled grotesquely from their pointed, orange teeth and their hats had crumbled to dust.

  The lawn around the mummified trio was gouged up. Max followed their track back along the side of the house and found an incomplete salt circle. She squatted down, leaning her elbows on her knees. It looked as if the redcaps had tried to seal the Hag inside the circle but she’d fought her way out. That accounted for the wild magic over the house and the chaos zone. Blood was splattered about, belonging to both the Hag and the redcaps. Max frowned, swiping a hand over her mouth. What was the Hag doing here?

  Her gaze snagged on a little grotto. It was a small pool surrounded by pungent rosemary, climbing roses, and gardenias. Lily pads floated on the water. Of course. Julian Springs Orchards. The spring. This was the Hag’s home. The redcaps had lured her out of the water and captured her. Straightening up, Max looked again at the incomplete salt circle. Except it wasn’t a circle. It was a barrier curving around the front of the grotto to keep the Hag from returning to safety in the spring.

  A rumble of voices from inside the house spurred Max to return to the charm circle. She set her shotgun on the ground and slid one of her forearm knives free, then hesitated a fraction of a moment. Up until this moment she could justify what she was doing as reconnaissance. Giselle would want to know the redcaps had been hunting the Hag. Now that Max knew what had happened, she should walk away. Those were her orders. Even contemplating breaking them made agony blossom in her gut as the magic that demanded she obey Giselle clawed at her. She drew a steadying breath, firming her grip on the knife.

  She wasn’t going to leave the Hag. She’d fought a good fight and she was helpless. She deserved a chance to escape. Alexander’s witch would imprison her and either enslave her or find a way to steal her magic. The image of the four tortured bodies on the other side of the house rose in Max’s mind’s eye. The sudden rage that erupted in her gut came without warning. Her fingers shook with the force of it. No one else was going to suffer tonight. Not if she could help it. She hauled back her anger and pushed it deep into the hollow place inside. Emotions only got in the way. She focused instead on confusing her compulsion spells. It wasn’t hard; she had plenty of practice.

  It’s for the good of Giselle, she told the magic firmly. And that was true, as far as it went. It was definitely better for Giselle if a rival witch didn’t get ahold of the Hag. Max didn’t let herself think about what could go wrong’like getting caught. The agony flower inside her began to wilt, and she smiled with fierce triumph. There were always shades of gray in the interpretation of her orders. She’d learned she could make decisions for the good of Giselle that she knew damned well the witch-bitch wouldn’t like. The compulsion spells didn’t care how the witch felt, just that she was protected and served. Magic didn’t understand nuance.

  Max didn’t wait any longer. She slashed downward through the lavender witchlight and into the salt circle. Power walloped her, throwing her backward. She landed hard, her head snapping against the ground, the air exploding from her lungs. Instantly she flung herself up onto her feet, gasping for breath. Her hand was scorched red and her arm ached fiercely. She didn’t know where her knife was. She shook her hand as if that would cool it and returned to the edge of the circle.

  The witchlight was gone. On the ground was a ring of gra
y ash. Max scuffed a gap in it with her foot and went to kneel beside the Hag.

  “Mother of winter, we must move you.”

  The Hag opened her eyes. They were pale blue and cold, like glacier ice. Her lips peeled back from her stalactite teeth and she spat something in a language Max didn’t know.

  “I don’t understand you. They’re coming back for you. Can you walk?”

  Max offered the Hag her hand. The Hag twitched, her mouth twisting as she tried to move. She slumped, her eyes drifting closed, her breath rattling in her throat. Cold radiated from her. Max’s breath plumed in the air.

  “What can I do?” Asking was risky. It implied a promise. Much could be made of that.

  The eyes lifted slowly. “Feed.”

  Max jerked back, then caught herself. What the hell am I doing? She should just kill the Hag and put her out of her misery. Cutting her heart out would do it. Max’s stomach churned. No. Not tonight. There had been enough deaths here. It wasn’t often that she could save lives. And she could spare the blood.

  She didn’t let herself think about the stupidity of creating a blood bond with the Hag. She slid her other knife out of its sheath and slashed her wrist in one sharp motion. She cut deeply. Her healing spells would kick in too quickly otherwise.

  She held her arm out and let the blood run into the Hag’s lipless mouth. Her blue tongue, pointed like a lizard’s tail, swept out and licked the drops from the air. The change was almost instantaneous. Her eyes burned neon and her body spasmed. She clutched at Max’s arm with her knotted fingers, pulling it down to her mouth with iron strength. The black, pointed nails drilled into Max’s skin.

  Instinctively Max yanked back, but the Hag was too strong. Her mouth fastened on the wound as she licked Max’s flesh. Cold followed. It crept up Max’s arm with searing intensity, numbing her skin and turning it white. Max groped for her knife, knowing the Hag could drain her in a matter of minutes.

  Instead of the knife, her fingers found the shotgun. She scrabbled for it even as the Hag let go. Max clutched her arm against her stomach, shivering. With her other hand she hefted the shotgun. The Hag sat up. With her long tongue, she licked the trickles of blood from her chin and cheeks.

  “Can you move?” Max asked through stiff lips. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

  The Hag twisted her head, tilting it as she examined Max. Her eyes still glowed brilliantly, and Max recoiled from the power swelling in them.

  “What do you want?” the Hag whispered in a voice that sounded like gravel in a blender.

  “To get out of here alive. Which we won’t do if we don’t get a move on.”

  “No. What do you want?”

  Max struggled to her feet, swaying. “Come on. They’ll be coming soon.” How long had it been? Eight minutes? Ten? She could hear the rumble of diesel engines and a faint crunch of gravel. The trucks were on the long, shaded drive.

  The Hag stood jerkily, like she’d been pulled up with strings. She was almost a foot taller than Max, maybe six and a half feet. Her skeletal hands hung at her sides, the fingertips curled loosely.

  Max stepped back, firming her grip on the shotgun. “I want to get going. Understand?”

  The Hag shook her head, the long, ropy strands of her white hair moving as if alive. “You burn,” she said. A bony finger prodded the air near Max’s belly button. “Rage.” She drew the word out as if savoring it. “What do you want?”

  “Don’t move.”

  Max whirled around, swinging up her shotgun. For a split second, she met Alexander’s piercing gaze as he sighted down his .45. Then with a motion too fast to comprehend, a flash of blue struck Alexander, wrapping him in a cocoon of blue witchlight.

  “Stillness,” said the Hag.

  It was, Max realized, a command. Alexander didn’t move, didn’t even blink. He was frozen. Slowly she lowered the nose of her shotgun and glanced sidelong at the Hag, who held a staff in her skeletal hand. It was made of black wood sheathed in ice. Spiky holly leaves twined around its length, and the top was carved in the shape of a crow.

  The Hag looked at Max again. She tilted her head, pointing with her staff. “There will be war. It stands already on the threshold. Many, many will die. The world will be remade. Soon you will stand at a crossroads. You can choose fire”’the staff prodded Max in the stomach’”or you can choose blood.” The staff touched her wrist where the slash had already closed. “Be warned, either path will have a cost. Lives will be saved and lives will be lost.”

  The Hag bent close so that her nose nearly touched Max’s. Max fought to stand still, though every instinct told her to run like hell.

  “You gave blood. There is a debt owed. I give you this.” The Hag reached into a tattered pocket and withdrew a silvery white lump. She set it in Max’s hand. It burned with cold, but did not melt. A hailstone. “When the time is right, swallow it. Know what you want. You will have it.”

  With that, the Hag skimmed over the grass to the pool in the grotto. In her wake, frost glittered on the grass and cold wind gusted, despite the August heat. She did not turn as she stepped into the water. In a blink she sank and was gone. The wind died.

  Max pocketed the hailstone without looking at it again. Her mind reeled; she didn’t know what to think, and she didn’t have time to sort it out. She faced Alexander. The blue light that held him was dimming. A few more seconds, a half a minute maybe, and he’d be free. It didn’t matter if she got away before that. He’d seen her. They both would be at tomorrow night’s Conclave’every witch was required to bring her Shadowblade Prime. Now or then, there would be a showdown.

  She raised the nose of the shotgun, pointing it at him as she thumbed the hammer back. At this range, the blast would take his head off. No one else would know she’d ever been here. She stared at him, her eyes locking with his, her finger hovering over the trigger. Her compulsion spells raked steel thorns through her, pushing her to kill him. She still hesitated. There was something about the way he looked at her’as if he recognized her. Maybe not who she was, but what she was. She felt like he could see all the way inside her, and the feeling was both deeply unsettling and strangely welcome. No one got close to her. After Giselle had turned her, she’d wrapped herself in emotional Kevlar, and that was the way she wanted it. When her body felt the need to be touched, she found strangers in bars and enjoyed a roll in the hay and then was on her way’no ties. She held everyone at arm’s length, even her Shadowblades, whom she’d come to care for despite herself. But Alexander’s gaze cut through to the core of her. Without even speaking a word to each other, she knew that he already understood her better than anybody else in her life. It was a gift she hadn’t known she wanted, and she couldn’t just blow it away.

  Abruptly she lifted the gun and rested the barrel on her shoulder, easing the hammer back down.

  “My name is Max,” she said, not sure he could actually hear her. “I’ll see you at the Conclave.”

  With that, she ran past him, heading for her Tahoe. Tomorrow night was soon enough for them to try to kill each other.

  2

  THE HAG’S MAGIC HELD ALEXANDER HELPLESS. He could not move, not even to breathe. Even his heart stopped. He was frozen like a mosquito in amber. All he could do was watch and listen and wish to hell he understood what was happening. Nothing tonight made any sense. Redcaps didn’t hunt Hags, and what were they doing in Southern California? Both belonged to the Scottish highlands, and as far as he knew, traveling across continents was not something they made a habit of. And if that wasn’t enough, now another witch was involved.

  The strange Shadowblade woman was clearly a Prime. There was no mistaking that aura of volcanic power and authority. Even shaking with blood loss, she moved with the total confidence of a predator who knew her capabilities and was willing to take them to their limits. Alexander could feel her strength’a heady blend of molten iron and bottled lightning. He had not encountered the likes of her in many years’maybe not ever. Which made h
er a riddle. Any Prime as powerful as she was had to be bound to an extraordinary witch, someone the equal of Selange. That worried him. He did not know any who would fit the bill. Such a witch would be old and established with a large coven and he would have heard of her. Or him.

  His compulsion spells woke, sliding over him like razor wire. There was danger for Selange here and he was helpless against it.

  He watched the Hag give the Prime something, then the Hag sped out of sight and the Prime turned to look at Alexander. She wore a black hat pulled low over her eyes. A fringe of blond hair escaped from beneath it. Her face was angular, beautiful in the relentless, bold way that eagles are beautiful. Or cobras. She was shorter than him by four or five inches, but that made her no less dangerous. She raised her eyes and the nose of her shotgun at the same time. Everything in Alexander seized as electric fire seared his muscles. He was hypnotized by her gaze. Even if he could have, he would not have looked away. All thoughts of Selange faded, and he was sliding deep into something he did not know how to resist. He was not sure he wanted to.